1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an internet group-browsing system that allows multiple users to interact with web pages together.
2. Discussion of the Background
Internet users typically use a web-browser to “surf” the Internet. A browser is a special-purpose application program that effects requests of web pages and the display of a requested web page. It allows users to surf the Internet by moving from one World Wide Web (WWW) site to another. Information on providing Web services is provided in the following references which are incorporated herein by reference: (1) Visual Studio Core Reference Set, by Microsoft Press, (2) Visual InterDev 6.0: Web Technologies Reference, by Microsoft Press, (3) Professional Active Server Pages 2.0 by Francis et al., published by WROX Press Ltd., (4) Oracle PL/SQL Programming by Scott Urman, Published: March 1996, (5) Hitchhikers Guide to Visual Basic and SQL Server: with CD-ROM, by William Vaughn, Published: May 1997, (6) Using Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 (Special Edition) by Stephen Wynkoop, Published: March 1997, and (7) Advanced PowerBuilder 6 Techniques by Ramesh Chandak.
Each individual who is web-browsing typically interacts individually with a given web site. Therefore, when one individual is web-browsing, other Internet users at remote locations are unable to have the same experience or see what that individual is doing on a requested web site. For example, a person who is shopping on-line via a company's web site is unable to have a remotely located friend shop with him/her.
Web group-browsing allows multiple users to “surf” the Internet together and to experience the same web sites simultaneously by enabling those individuals to scroll through a web site's pages together. For example, two people at remote locations can now shop for clothes together on a company's web site. The shopping experience, however, bears little resemblance to a real world group shopping experience due to several existing technological limitations (e.g., privacy, personalization, and the inability of clients group-browsing together to communicate with each other).
Some web sites enable users to “personalize” or customize web pages on the site by (1) indicating preferences or (2) entering personal information. As a result, such users may be provided with personalized services (e.g., “one click shopping” shopping service currently provided by Amazon.com).
One implementation technique for personalization utilizes cookies. Cookies reside on each user's local computer to be used as personal identifiers sent together with a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) requests. To view a specific web page, a client computer system specifies the URL for that web page in a request. This request is forwarded to the web server that supports that web page. When that web server receives the request, it sends that web page to the client computer system. When the client computer system receives that web page, it typically displays the web page using a browser. Cookies can be classified as “persistent cookies,” which are stored on users' hard drives, and “session cookies,” which are stored in the memory and are only valid during a particular browsing session. Since cookies enable web sites to display personalized information (e.g., personal preferences, names, addresses, telephone numbers, credit card numbers), it is highly undesirable to allow one user's cookies to be accessed by another user without authorization. As such, personalization impacts privacy.
Different approaches have been taken to deal with personalization and privacy issues. The first approach is to confine all users to group-browse within one or a few sites that integrate group-browsing services, which address all personalization and privacy issues specific to those sites. However, because the group-browsing experience is limited to a few selected and customized sites, this approach is not a generalized service for sharing web-surfing experiences. As such, known group-browsing systems are specific to the web site visited and, as such, users have different group-browsing experiences at different web sites.
The second approach is to prevent users from sharing form data that is sent in a POST command. This approach has been used by Cahoots and SideTalk who designed web tour services. Such POST data exists in some personalized web pages requiring login or automatic login. Thus, the second approach unduly limits group-browsing because it does not allow group-browsers to access pages/requiring POST data. Furthermore, such services limit group-browsing to a single “in-control” party, decreasing the sense of a shared activity.
The third approach is to place the burden of privacy on the users. If one of the users logs into his or her personalized web page during a group-browsing session, this user will receive a cookie from the web site. This personal cookie will be shared by all users in the same session because they will submit the same URL requests to the web site. The user may not, however, be aware that his personal cookie is being shared. There are two primary shortcomings to this approach. First, the shared cookie becomes a persistent cookie on someone else's computer, allowing other users to access and use the cookie owner's personal information. Second, the personal persistent cookies of other users in the session may be replaced without acknowledgment. With replaced cookies, users will not enjoy the same personalized pages they expected even if they are not in group-browsing sessions.